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Christian Death Threats?

edited April 2009 in Everything Else
miULdI-qocg
Um? This was from "Answers in Genesis," the creationist people. What do you guys think this means?

Personally, I think this PSA could easily be construed as a death threat, to all non-fundies. Either that, or it's in terribly poor taste. Thoughts?
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Comments

  • edited April 2009
    Well, I think the message they're trying to get across is the old "how can human life have value if there is no god?" point. If that's the case, it's one of the most terribly constructed PSAs I've ever seen.
    Post edited by Walker on
  • That's....terribly constructed.

    I would think better of them if it was a death threat.
  • edited April 2009
    That's....terribly constructed.
    'Twas but a typo.

    And ellipses only have three periods.
    Post edited by Walker on
  • Um, I thought that the whole message of Christianity (as originally conceived) was supposed to be that God loves you, whether you believe or not? Guess I was wrong.

    Seriously, that's awful.
  • If you don't believe in God, no one believes in you.
    Join Christianity, or you will never matter to the world whatsoever.

    Wow, great message. One more reason why I'm an atheist.
  • This sort of stunt makes me wonder why anybody takes groups of that nature seriously at all.
  • 'Twas but a typo.
    And ellipses only have three periods.
    Wot wot? No, I was agreeing with you that that (hate doing that) was terribly constructed. Also, I overlooked my ellipses. Whoops. (Thanks for catching that)
  • I am Catholic and I think that is of poor taste. I mean, really a kid with a gun. WTF!
  • 'Twas but a typo.
    And ellipses only have three periods.
    Wot wot? No, I was agreeing with you that that (hate doing that) was terribly constructed. Also, I overlooked my ellipses. Whoops. (Thanks for catching that)
    My bad. I thought you were pointing out the fact that I spelled it "terrible" instead of "terribly".

    The bible says, straight up, that God loves and cares about everyone. He contradicts that statement quite a bit, mostly in the old testament, but it is stated pretty clearly all the same. For the most part, any christian who thinks God hates or doesn't care about atheists is a jackass. My advice to this group would be to hire a writer, re-read the New Testament, and seriously reconsider their beliefs.
  • No matter what the message is, this is in very poor taste.
  • Well, that was silly. Who are they trying to convert?
  • Obviously they are resorting to gunpoint conversions... the boy is pointing the gun at a nonbeliever (the liberal San Francisco director that was standing behind the camera), and "asking him politely" to become a Christian.
  • "This is a stickup atheists quit holding out and give us your monies." Christianity. ;)
  • I hate to use this phrase, but isn't this kid a bit... "white trash"-y?
  • April 15:
    (12:55:14 AM) jhawk0109 did they just threaten me with a gun?
    (12:57:01 AM) grapenutsrobot18 yes, I believe they did
  • Man, I knew fundies could be bad, but I didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition.

    ...Literally. I did not expect threats of murder to force conversion.
  • I leave the Internet for 2 days, and this is what I come back to? Here, I'll fix it.

  • That video just made me love my life. Terri Shiavo. lol
  • Here's AIG's explanation of the video:

    The boy depicted in the video clip represents how so many more young people are prone to violence now days (which has been on the rise since Columbine ten years ago). In this video clip—and its limited text—people are directed to seek out our website for an answer to the general question: “Why is there so much violence and death in this world—and does God have anything to do with it?” In fact, when this campaign appeared in 2006, it was linked to a page on our website discussing the lack of purpose and direction that atheistic naturalism gives to generations of young people.

    While the bankrupt theory of evolution does not directly lead to horrible violence by young people, we would suggest that if they were told that there is a Creator, who gives a purpose and a meaning for His Creation, then this cannot help but provide young people with some meaning to their lives. (Of course, given the judicial climate at present, presenting that message in a public school is virtually impossible.) It’s not surprising that teen suicide, for example, has grown proportionately to the increased teaching of evolution. “Life lacks purpose” is the message they hear.

    We want to provide to as many people as possible—through such video clips and other marketing pieces—a biblical answer to that puzzling question of why there is so much violence in the world. AnswersinGenesis.org directs people to such answers and also shares a life-impacting gospel message.

    We believe this campaign can be an effective outreach and is powerfully relevant to the society today. It will engage the culture with answers to questions that many are asking in the wake of school violence and other recent violent tragedies.


    AiG is not advocating violence—quite the opposite. It is challenging people to consider why young people become violent; “If you don’t matter to God [if there is no God to whom you are accountable], then you don’t matter to anyone [there is no purpose and meaning in life and life has no value].”

    There's also a few gems in the rest of the article:

    -We live in an era of history in which the idea of evolution is taught as fact in much of the education systems of the world. In the USA, it is claimed that by removing teaching about creation, Bible reading, and prayer from the classrooms in public schools, religion has been removed and students are only educated now in a “neutral” environment.

    However, the science textbooks used in most public schools only explain things in terms of natural processes—the supernatural is not considered. That’s not neutral. Students are being taught the philosophy of naturalism, which is—in essence—the religion of atheism.


    -AiG is not saying that evolution is the cause of violence. Sin is the cause. However, the more generations are taught they are just animals and that there is no Creator God, the more people will act consistently in accord with who (or what) they believe they are.

    -...atheists have to borrow Christian presuppositions when they say that murder and violent acts are wrong! Atheists have to live inconsistently. The problem comes about when people act more consistently with their atheistic presuppositions!

    Just your average hard-core Christian bullshit, really. A death threat would be much more exciting.

    Source.
  • ..atheists have to borrow Christian presuppositions when they say that murder and violent acts are wrong! Atheists have to live inconsistently.
    This doesn't just fly in the face of secular humanism, Kantian Deontology, and every other non-religious ethical system ever conceived, it drops firebombs on them from thirty thousand feet.
  • That's pretty much exactly their intent, I think.
  • Well that was in particularly poor taste, ignoring the whole death threat vibe it's really sad to know that there are people who only put value in the judgement of a flying spaghetti monster rather than attempting to find value in their own lives
  • I think Christians I know would have problems with that video. Seesh!
  • You know, I'm going to take a pass on this and think my life will probably be better for it.
  • edited April 2009
    Here's AIG's explanation of the video...
    So much ignorance. I am in physical pain.
    Post edited by Kate Monster on
  • edited April 2009
    "There's no stop drop and roll in hell".
    Post edited by bunnikun on
  • "There's no stop drop and roll in hell".
    Likewise, it is not Disneyland.


  • Just your average hard-core Christian bullshit, really. A death threat would be much more exciting.

    Umm...I'm a Christian, and while I don't really get this video (at all), a lot of what that post says makes some kind of sense. Teaching evolution as fact, not theory, is essentially telling a child "Hey, don't believe in creationism, here's how it happened." I'm not arguing against teaching evolution, as the whole situation is very complicated, but the things they say aren't necessarily untrue. That isn't to say that some of the thing they said aren't misleading or a little headstrong, which they are, but rather that some of the things they say do have a logical point and are valid arguments that a Christian could have against Atheism and/or evolution.
    P.S.: This is my OPINION. I am not stating any of this as fact, I'm just saying what I believe. It's what the internet is for.
    P.P.S.: Not all Christians are like this. Don't discredit an entire group of people or their beliefs based on the individuals you see the most. Just because those Christians seem like the most prominent kind doesn't mean they are. Other Christian sects who may be less reactionary are less interesting, and therefore aren't the ones you see on the news holding crazy parades entitled "God hates ****." Most Christians aren't that dumb, and those people aren't real Christians, just incorrectly using the Bible to justify their own prejudices.
  • I'm not arguing against teaching evolution, as the whole situation is very complicated, but the things they say aren't necessarily untrue.
    Yes they are.
    That isn't to say that some of the thing they said aren't misleading or a little headstrong, which they are, but rather that some of the things they say do have a logical point and are valid arguments that a Christian could have against Atheism and/or evolution.
    Such as?
  • I'm not arguing against teaching evolution, as the whole situation is very complicated, but the things they say aren't necessarily untrue.
    Yes they are.
    That isn't to say that some of the thing they said aren't misleading or a little headstrong, which they are, but rather that some of the things they say do have a logical point and are valid arguments that a Christian could have against Atheism and/or evolution.
    Such as?
    Well, this will diverge into a massive argument about human nature, but the argument that anti-violence and such are Christian concepts is true as far as I'm concerned. Atheists preach doing good things for the world, when their whole argument is about logic. Now, logically, does it make sense to do good things? Why help others, when it will eat up your time, your resources, and you don't get anything out of it? Wouldn't it be better to protect yourself and your family? Or maybe even just yourself. Helping others has no logical value. It only has emotional and humanistic value. Helping people is the right thing to do. You can say that we have a conscience, that we're humans and it's what we do, but evolution just teaches that we are highly evolved animals. Therefore, why should we be any different from them?
    Of course, you probably have a trillion answers to this, all of them very good, but it's what I believe is true. It all comes down to a fundamental difference. It's actually quite strange, as the Atheists are the optimists, and the Christians are the pessimists in this argument.
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